Next time Anthony Edwards says he chatted with His Airness, you best believe it. When he did flex about his casual conversation with Michael Jordan earlier this year, most felt it was another moment of Ant being a braggart playing into his Adidas commercial persona. Now the man himself confirmed it happened. Jordan just makes it sound more realistic than it felt.
MJ’s Insights to Excellence was back on NBC tonight on a day the Minnesota Timberwolves got an OT 142-149 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. In the latest microdose of MJ’s insight, Mike Tirico asked him about advising players like Antman.
“I had a conversation this summer with a high executive at Minnesota and he was talking about Anthony Edwards,” MJ said. “I heard during the course of the year that they were double-teaming (him). He didn’t know how to deal with the double team…”
This confirms what a Wolves insider revealed in January about Ant personally reaching out to MJ. He’s sought lessons on getting to his spots and shooting over defenders from the man who did that on any given Tuesday for 15 seasons.
Edwards was apparently frustrated about getting doubled. Jordan flipped that mindset around. “Well, that’s the highest respect that you can ever get if a team feels like they got to double team you. Now you figure out how to break the double team.”
Jordan told him about moving without the ball, getting into scoring positions, the likes. But changing his perspective was the most useful advice. When MJ says, “those are the types of conversations I try to have when players seek that information,” the impact it had on Ant was palpable.
The Wolves are not looking like the contenders they were last season. After a losing skid and struggling against injury-ridden teams, the nothing-to-lose last-seeded Pelicans made it very tough for them. It fell on Ant to rally an astounding 44 points to salvage Minnesota with an OT win.
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Ant was not the only one getting the MJ comparisons. But he was one of the few who could say he chatted up the legend himself.